Archive for Bradford

Here I am, walking lakeside in North Sutton. Cell phone in hand, I snap a few photos of Kezar Lake, the dam and Wadleigh State Park.

It’s what I do most summers. I have time after dropping the kids off at their respective camps. I don’t particularly want to haul my laptop with me, so I take photos for Facebook, Pinterest and my enjoyment. I’ll include a few here to get you in the summer mood.

Looking for something to do? Inns don’t just provide a bedroom and bathroom; many of them provide activities to keep you outdoors and enjoying the area. Here are a few of our favorites.

CANOE IN ANDOVER
Bluewater Farm Lakeside Lodge & Cottages
22B Camp Marlyn Lane
(603) 735-5159http://www.bluewaterfarm.net
Bluewater Lodge, a year-round facility that sleeps 40, also has three lakeside cottages on the property: Ice House, Beech House and the Lake House. It doesn’t matter if you see the view of Bradley Lake from the large windows in the lodge or from a canoe – it is simply wonderful.

ROMANCE IN BRADFORD
Rosewood Country Inn
67 Pleasant View Road
(603) 938-5253http://www.rosewoodcountryinn.com
This 11-suite inn was built around 1850 in the early Victorian style. It is set on 12 hilltop acres, providing a peaceful getaway (or romantic hideaway).

GOLF IN NEW LONDON
Fairway Motel
334 Andover Road
(603) 526-0202http://www.lakesunapeecc.com/fairway_motel.htm
Perfect for the comings and goings of busy folks, the Fairway is located on Route 11, on the grounds of the Lake Sunapee Country Club.

CULTURE IN NEW LONDON
New London Inn
353 Main Street
(603) 526-2791http://www.newlondoninn.us
A central location, refurbished rooms, and a fine dining restaurant on the premises make the New London Inn an area favorite.

SKI IN SUNAPEE
Dexter’s Inn
258 Stagecoach Road
(603) 763-5571http://www.dextersnh.com
Dexter’s Inn is a country resort on a 20-acre estate. The hilltop location — which features panoramic views of Lake Sunapee, Mount Sunapee and the surrounding countryside — provides a private, peaceful and relaxing backdrop. Tennis, swimming, cross country ski trails and fine dining are on site.

SAIL IN SUNAPEE
Sunapee Harbor Cottages
4 Lake Avenue
(603) 763-5052http://www.sunapeeharborcottages.com
Built in 2002, these six cottages are located right in the harbor. Sign up for a tour of the harbor on the MV Kearsarge.

STEP BACK IN TIME IN SUTTON
The Follansbee Inn on Kezar Lake
2 Keyser Street, North Sutton
(603) 927-4221http://www.follansbeeinn.com
The Follansbee Inn is an authentic 1840 New England bed & breakfast with 17 individually furnished guest rooms, all with private bath.

BRING YOUR PET TO WARNER
The Maples at Warner
69 East Main Street
(603) 456-6275
This classic New England bed and breakfast has six rooms and four baths. Even better: it is pet friendly. A boarding facility is located next door to the inn, so you can travel with your pets (no exclusions on type of animal).

Looking for something unique for a specific space in your home? The Kearsarge/Lake Sunapee region has its fair share of antique dealers, many with shops open to the public. Come and enjoy the treasure hunt!

BRADFORD
Old Road Antiques
9 Old Sutton Road
(603) 938-2833
oldroadantiques.com
The shop has a nice stock of antiques, art and collectibles.

CONTOOCOOK
Covered Bridge Frame Shop & Gallery
916 Main Street
(603) 746-4996
cbgallery.com
Whether you are looking for antique furniture or want to perfectly preserve a hanging piece with the right frame, this shop has got you covered.

GEORGES MILLS
Prospect Hill Antiques
247 Prospect Hill Road
(603) 763-9676
prospecthillantiques.com
With three floors of antiques and more, take your time — you could spend all day at Prospect Hill Antiques!

NEWPORT
Debi’s Florist
34 Main Street
(603) 863-2855
We like how this florist shop has transformed its front entrance into an antique shop. There are some lovely antiques and collectibles that you may not have seen elsewhere.

SUNAPEE

Sunapee Landing Trading Company
356 Route 103
(603) 863-2275
sunapee-landing.com
Bill Corey has been collecting antiques across New England since the 1980s. He brings his eclectic collection to Sunapee; items range from $40 cut glass bowls to $15,000 marble tables.

“Geez, Phil, you look like death warmed over!” This is what Lester Hall had to say when young Dick MacLeod drove his ailing father up for a final visit in 1940. His dad had lost over 50 pounds due to digestive failure and had been sent home from the Veteran’s Hospital to die. “Go see Doc Sias up back on Rowe Mountain. He’ll fix you up.” Doc Sias tied Phil’s feet to the cot, put a strap around his head, and commenced to stretching out his body. Later, he prescribed cold showers and hot meals of steeped fresh-mown hay. In about six weeks he recovered and lived to be 88 years old.

Now, all this hay harvesting kicked up Dick’s hay fever. Doc’s remedy? “Buy a dozen watermelons. When you get thirsty, eat watermelon. When you get hungry, eat watermelon. Then take a spoonful of local honey with a spoonful of apple cider and that’ll keep the hay fever down.” It worked!

Doc’s success stemmed from common sense, acute observational skills, and an appreciation for herbal lore. A girl named Audrey came up from Peabody, Mass., to seek a cure for her leukemia. Doc Sias determined that she needed a catalyst of copper to help her body absorb iron. Since he used copper sulfate to fight the potato bugs, he fed her a steady diet of spuds and she recovered. He was also known to cure severe skin ulcers with a poultice of cabbage leaves. People in town said “he could cure almost anything.”

Illness was a persistent aspect of early life in small towns like Bradford, NH. Many diaries recount grisly tales ranging from smithy tooth extractions to kitchen table surgeries. Early doctors had to mix their own medicines and make do with what was on hand. Bradford’s earliest doctor was Dr. William Martin who began his practice here in 1795. Another early physician was Dr. Jason Howard Ames who lived on Main Street and drove a white horse with a gig to serve outlaying homesteads. When he fell ill during the small pox epidemic in 1848, a fresh recruit named Dr. Cyrus Fisk rose to the occasion. He acted as both nurse and physician at the “pest house” set up on the west end of town to contain contagion. He did this despite the fact he had just been married and often joked about his unusual honeymoon.

Many colorful and dedicated doctors have lived in Bradford over the year. Some locals remember Dr. Anne Wasson who made doctor dolls to teach health skills. Dr. Ira Weston wrote the poem “The Hills of South Bradford.” Dr. Carey “removed a large suspender button from the nose of Master Arthur Peaslee on Feb. 20, 1891. The young man had carried the button in that receptacle since last November.”

Feeling the itch to shop? It’s okay. Anything you buy from Faye is not only fun, but completely practical. She makes her products – from totes to sandwich bags to cosmetic bags – from oil cloth. If it gets dirty, just wipe it down. If you don’t have room in the kitchen, the lunch bags fold up to fit in a drawer or tucked next to the fridge. You wish you had more pockets in your day-to-day tote bag, well, Faye makes a 12-pocket (!!!) tote.

My favorite: the chicken. It’s a big, happy, colorful, chicken. Faye suggests putting a brick in the bottom and using it as a door stop. I was thinking I could store all those plastic grocery bags in it. The chicken would be decorative AND useful. I need one for my kitchen. (Notice I said “need” and not “want”.)

I asked Faye what people were asking for this spring and she said, “purple. Everyone wants purple.” Sure enough, there was an apron with purple flowers. An 8-pocket tote with a purple background and tropical flowers in the foreground. She has to special order the purple oil cloth, but if it makes her customers happy, it makes Faye happy.

Sew There! will be at the First Annual (spring) Shopping Expo at the Grantham Town Hall on Saturday, May 4. You can also see more of her work at http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewtherenh. Coincidentally enough, there will be an article on local crafters using the online sales site Etsy.com in the summer 2013 issue of Kearsarge Magazine. We ask them how they sell locally – and how they sell nationally – to be able to support their art. Look for it on stands in a few weeks.